Apache Superset
Business IntelligenceAn open-source data exploration and visualization platform for building charts and dashboards over SQL databases, run by the Apache Software Foundation.
Open-source alternative to:
What the free edition leaves out
Scroll sideways to view all columns →We have not been able to confirm enough from official sources to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | The configuration docs show OAuth2 sign-in setup through Flask-AppBuilder. SAML is not mentioned on the page read. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Free | The security docs describe built-in Admin, Alpha, Gamma, sql_lab and Public roles and custom roles. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Free | The event logging docs say actions are logged by default and shown under Security > Action Log. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Free | The security docs describe several users with different roles, including Admin granting rights to others. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The installation docs say you must back up the metadata database yourself; no built-in backup tool is described. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | The API reference says Superset exposes a REST API that follows the OpenAPI specification. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Not confirmed | The homepage lists community channels (Slack, mailing list, Stack Overflow, GitHub) and no paid support. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Teams with SQL databases and engineers who can run the stack, and who want dashboards without a vendor license.
Why choose it over Tableau
It is Apache-2.0 licensed under the Apache Software Foundation. The docs describe built-in roles, an action log, a REST API and OAuth sign-in in the project itself, with no edition split described.
Where it falls short
The install is several services (app, Postgres, Redis, Celery), the docs say the Docker Compose setup is not production-ready out of the box, and Kubernetes is the recommended production route. You must back up the metadata database yourself, and the homepage lists only community support.
Open-source alternative to
- Tableau — Superset can replace Tableau for dashboards and charts on data in your own databases.
Category
Business IntelligenceTopics
Tech stack
Python
TypeScript
DockerLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
